Imperfect World
by ShortGirlWithAPen
Summary: Daryl and Carol meet up after the death Negan caused. Basically how I hope the Caryl reunion happens.


**Disclaimer- I don't own TWD or any of its characters!**

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The loss settled heavily over the Atlanta group and none of them quite knew what to do. Some were crying, others went silent, but Daryl was just numb. There wasn't a word he could say to anyone to make anything better, and no matter how much Rick tried to get Daryl to say something, _anything_ , to assure them all that he was alright, he just couldn't. Daryl just looked at the other man with a blank look in his eyes; Rick could see that everything Daryl was doing was simply because he had to, him just trying to survive until the next day, and Rick wasn't sure there was much he could do.

It was in silence that the group met up with Carol and Morgan. The sight of Carol was the only thing that had made Daryl smile in the slightest for the past couple days, and Carol didn't hesitate to smile back at him. She pulled Daryl into the tightest hug either of them can remember, especially since the end of the world. It was at that moment when she sees the look in his eyes, the numbness that still there. Daryl doesn't hesitate to hug back just as tightly, as if she was the only thing tying him down to focus on what was going on in that moment. When asked what was wrong, Daryl just told her to look around and see who was missing.

Carol pulled away from him just enough to meet his eyes, disbelief in hers. "How? What happened?" she asked, concern for the whole group now replacing the disbelief in her eyes. Daryl just shrugged and said that he would talk about it later, when it's just them. Carol only managed to nod at him then, but she couldn't hide the fact that she was still worried about what had really gone on.

That night, when everyone had went to bed, Carol approached Daryl and sat beside him. "What's goin' on, Daryl?" she asked him, looking up to look at him. "What really happened out there?"

"There was this guy.. Negan. And he had us all lined up, going down one by one, saying how he was going to kill one of us with this bat he had. So he did." Daryl said, looking away from her for a moment before shaking his head and looking at her. "It was one of the worst things I've ever seen, Carol, and I can't stop thinking about it and several other things.."

Carol looked at him, placing a hand on his arm. They sit next to each other in silence for a while, both of them lost in their own thoughts. The thing that surprised Carol the most was the fact that Daryl didn't bother to move away when she touched his arm.

"Where have you been Carol?" Daryl asked her, his voice quiet but still enough to break her from her thoughts. She just looked at him for a moment, not knowing how to answer his question. "I couldn't find you. And you've left me twice." He met her eyes as he says this, biting his lip. Carol listened to him speak, knowing if she interrupted him, he may just not talk like this to her for a while, that he wouldn't open up to this in a while. It was several moments before he whispers, almost inaudibly, "Why do you do this?"

"I don't know, Daryl." She then looks away from him. "I don't. But that's no excuse, not for leaving those you care about."

"You're right. There is no excuse for doing this, especially with us." Daryl said almost angrily, leaving her not sure if it's directed toward her for leaving or him for letting her go, but either way, she knew that it wasn't going to just go away. "In this world, you have to stay with those you care about. With those you love." He sighed, looking at her, seeming just a bit more calm than he did a moment before. "Which means I shouldn't have let you go, especially not more than once."

"Are you trying to tell me something, Daryl?" Carol asked him, looking strait at him. There was a small smile on her face for a moment before it falls, a serious look returning. "Because you know I don't mean anything. You would all be just fine without me, I'm sure."

"I wouldn't. I wouldn't be anywhere close to okay if you were gone." Daryl met her eyes, wanting so much for her to know just how much he cared, especially when it came to her. "You mean something to me. Why else would I want to be around you so much? Why else would I have brought you the Cherokee Rose and told you the story behind it?" He's silent for a moment, looking away. "You think that with all that you just mean nothing, especially to me?"

They look at each other for a moment, Carol thinking over everything that he was telling her while Daryl was just thinking about what else he could possibly tell her if this didn't work. Another long moment passed before Daryl reached out to touch her cheek.

"I'm not going anywhere as long as you don't. You shouldn't be leaving any of us like this because we all care, we all want you around. Especially me." Daryl told her, confident in what he was telling her, as if trying to warn her not to argue with him about this. Carol began to say something else before Daryl leaned in and kissed her roughly, keeping her from saying another word. He pulled away from her a second later, meeting her eyes once again. "Don't you dare say that you're nothing. Or that we'd be fine without you. You and I both know that's a lie, so don't even think of telling that to me."

Carol slowly nodded and rested her head against his chest, noticing the way he tenses for a moment before relaxing. It just proved just how much she had an effect on him, that she was able to do this type of thing without him trying to move away from her. To her, he was truly an amazing thing in an imperfect world, and she promised herself that she wasn't going to purposefully leave him again. Not when she knew what he really thought.


End file.
